Map It: The Hands-On Guide to Strategic Learning Alignment: Summary & Key Insights

The first crucial step in the Action Mapping approach is recognizing that **training isn’t always the answer**. Before jumping into course design, you must ask: what is the business problem we’re trying to solve? Every effective training initiative begins not with a PowerPoint, but with a **performance gap** that is clearly hurting organizational results.

In practice, this means holding structured conversations with stakeholders. When a department head says, “We need a course on communication,” you dig deeper. What business goal is at risk? Is the problem that sales are dropping? Are projects delayed because misunderstandings persist? You translate vague training requests into **specific measures of business performance**. This conversation reframes stakeholders’ expectations: you’re not a course order-taker—you’re a performance partner.

Once the goal is defined, you examine the current performance. How are employees falling short? What observable behaviors differ between high and average performers? These distinctions clarify whether the gap is skill-related, motivational, or environmental. By pinpointing the real performance problem, you stop wasting resources creating content that won’t move the needle. In other words, this step saves you from building beautiful learning products that solve the wrong problem.

Not every performance gap can—or should—be fixed with training. Once we’ve clarified what’s not working, we must ask why. The **root cause analysis** is a detective process: is it a lack of knowledge, a lack of skill, a lack of motivation, or an obstacle in the work environment? If employees already know what to do but can’t do it because the process is flawed or management doesn’t support them, no amount of e-learning will help.

In *Map It*, I guide readers through examining causes under four categories: knowledge, skills, motivation, and environment. The environment includes everything from confusing procedures to broken software to cultural resistance. You must verify that the problem is **within the scope of training to fix**. If it isn’t, you become a consultant who helps stakeholders find better solutions—perhaps process redesign or management coaching. This mindset shift—from course designer to performance consultant—is at the heart of Action Mapping.

This diagnostic stage is uncomfortable but powerful. It requires challenging assumptions and sometimes saying no to training. But doing so earns credibility because it centers your work on results, not outputs. Ultimately, you build fewer courses but create solutions that truly drive change.